Chapter 36 A narrow escape from death
The rain stopped, and the pumpkin lanterns lit up again.
As night fell, the pumpkin heads resembled skulls floating in the darkness, exuding a mesmerizing and eerie atmosphere.
Today is Halloween Eve.
The little devils on the street were bustling about, starting their Halloween parade party.
There will be a large-scale fireworks show at 7:30 pm.
At this moment, Akemi was sitting on the semi-open-air stands, sipping hot cocoa, waiting for the first fireworks to sound.
For the average viewer, this is the beginning of the show.
For Mingmei, however, this was a clarion call for a new beginning.
"When the first firework goes off, pour hot cocoa on Bobo and then run!"
This is the instruction Akai gave to Akemi.
Bourbon stood behind Akemi, keeping watch and fulfilling his duty as her bodyguard.
He was also waiting for the moment when hot cocoa would be poured on him.
The performance has to be convincing to be believable!
Given the large number of forces involved tonight, it is necessary to provide a brief explanation first:
The Public Security Bureau, led by Bourbon and Scotland, and the FBI, led by Akai, reached a temporary cooperation agreement. Their objective was to rescue the Miyano sisters.
Given Bourbon's personality, he would be unwilling to cooperate with the FBI on such an important matter of protection.
But Jingguang's words woke him up: "Akai won't abandon Akemi. If he finds out Akemi is in the hands of the Public Security Bureau, he will definitely come looking for her, and might even try to forcibly take Akemi back to the United States. Why don't we cooperate and each get what we need? Rei should do some work with Akemi. If she is determined to stay in Japan, then Akai definitely won't be able to say anything more."
Zero agreed, but still refused to reveal his true identity to Akai.
This creates an awkward situation: if anything goes wrong, Akai might kill Bourbon.
Even so, Bourbon remained adamant: "My life will not be in the hands of the FBI!"
Kagemitsu was caught in the middle and faced a very difficult situation. In the end, he could only subtly remind Akai not to harm Bourbon by saying that "the Public Security Bureau wants to keep as many people alive as possible for interrogation."
The biggest challenge of this operation was rescuing both sisters at the same time.
Because if only one is saved, the one left behind will inevitably become a hostage.
Because of Akai's sudden appearance, the organization did not give Sherry any chance to visit her sister.
So Bourbon settled for second best: he got the older sister to go find the younger sister!
Of course, it shouldn't be too obvious.
A few hundred meters away from the stands is the Beika Hotel.
A banquet has been arranged tonight, and Bourbon has learned that many important members and partners will be attending, including Shirley.
This means that the organization will be scattered tonight.
On the one hand, they need to protect the powerful and influential figures in the Beihu Hotel who have close ties with the organization; on the other hand, they need to take this opportunity to get rid of the traitor, Lai.
The FBI's actions in rescuing people when they were short-handed made it easier for the man to believe Bourbon's lies:
Akai's only target has always been Akemi; his promise to Akemi to save her sister was nothing but an empty promise.
However, Akemi saw through the FBI's lie, and in order to protect her sister, she betrayed Akai and was willing to provide intelligence to the organization.
So the gentleman agreed not to pursue Mingmei's responsibility.
Right now, no one is monitoring Minmei except Bourbon, because everyone in the organization is looking for the FBI!
According to the intelligence provided by Akemi, Akai would be lying in ambush on the rooftop of a building not far away, while several other FBI agents would be waiting in cars near the stands.
This information is certainly true, but it's not entirely accurate either.
Because the real escape route is underground, by jumping down into a manhole!
The police officers were waiting for her downstairs.
Bourbon had meticulously examined the surrounding facilities of the stands, accurately measured the angles and distances, and spent a long time practicing with Akemi at her home.
The final training result was that it took 45 seconds from splashing hot cocoa to jumping off the manhole cover.
Everything is under control; all that remains is for the fireworks to light up the sky.
That's the case, at least for now.
However, the plan was completely disrupted when Sherry suddenly appeared.
Originally two separate rescue teams, they now have to deal with the unexpected situation of merging into one.
"Could it be that the people lying in ambush at Beika Hotel have been discovered?"
Bourbon frowned; Jingguang on the other end of the earpiece didn't give him any information.
This is not a good sign.
This way, the organization won't have to divert its resources to deal with them.
"Shiho, what brings you here?" Akemi asked in surprise.
“I heard that my sister is here, so I wanted to come and see you.”
This was the first time Bourbon met Sherry:
With short, light brown hair, a floor-length red dress, and a black coat draped over her shoulders, she exuded a cool and glamorous aura.
"Sister, come with me to the banquet. Gin agreed," Sherry said expectantly.
Mingmei glanced at Bourbon with some difficulty, and the blond man nodded silently.
So they got into Gin's car together.
Bourbon and the Miyano sisters were sitting in the back of the Porsche.
The driver, Vodka, sat directly in front of Bourbon, his tall figure blocking out all the light, making Bourbon a little uncomfortable.
"Someone was found attempting to poison us in the kitchen, but it has nothing to do with us. However, the organization seems to believe it was the FBI and suspects their operation tonight is more than just this, so they recalled Mingmei." A reassuring voice came through the earpiece.
However, the content conveyed by this sound was not very pleasant.
Bourbon frowned slightly and began to devise a countermeasure.
Police and the FBI deployed a large number of personnel at the Beihu Hotel, from the front desk to the kitchen, from the electrical room to the waiters.
However, this does not guarantee that the plan will be foolproof.
One of the most troubling problems is that Shirley has no idea what will happen tonight.
The original plan was to cut off the power, knock Sherry unconscious, and then take her away. But now the organization is on high alert, and there's no guarantee that something won't go wrong.
Sure enough, as soon as they arrived at the Beika Hotel, Kagemitsu said, "The FBI agents stationed in the power distribution room have been exposed."
Upon entering the hotel, we found the banquet was being held on the 7th floor.
To Bourbon's surprise, Gin left after sending the person upstairs.
"He must have gone to find Akai, right?"
Bourbon breathed a slight sigh of relief when Gin wasn't there.
Perhaps because of Halloween, many people dressed up in costumes related to ghosts and monsters, while more traditional and serious people wore evening gowns.
However, Akemi looked quite out of place in the crowd:
To avoid injury while jumping over the manhole cover, she wore protective gear on her elbows and knees, wrapped inside a thick coat.
Compared to those elegantly dressed, glamorous socialites, she was completely out of place.
Shirley noticed Akemi's embarrassment and said, "Sister, let's go sit over there!"
Bourbon nearly fainted with anger when he saw where Sherry was pointing: "My little devil, can you please stop causing me trouble?"
Sherry pulled Akemi to a bar with a good view and said, "It's even better to watch the fireworks here!"
"That's really good, but how are we going to get out of here?"
The bar counter faces the floor-to-ceiling glass window, offering an unobstructed view of the outside scenery.
Behind it is the banquet hall, separated by a semi-transparent wall in the middle:
There is only one door for entry and exit.
In other words, all the people in the organization need to do is guard this door.
Bourbon glanced outwards and saw five figures reflected in the frosted glass.
He couldn't help but sigh silently, but it wasn't really appropriate to let Mingmei go outside.
Putting aside the issue of clothing, accurately finding a target in a chaotic crowd is not easy, let alone having to keep track of two at the same time.
Bourbon has very little to do; tonight's role is that of a dutiful but unfortunately clumsy bodyguard.
How the plan proceeds depends on the outcome of Jingguang's communication with the FBI.
Just then, a young waiter came over with two cocktails.
"The fireworks show will begin soon. Ladies, please enjoy our hotel's signature drink: Bloody Mary."
But when the waiter handed the wine glass to Mingmei, he accidentally spilled it.
The waiter hurriedly apologized, but Akemi smiled and said it was alright, and told Shiho that she was going to the restroom to wash the stains off her clothes.
Bourbon naturally followed behind Akemi.
This was arranged in advance; the waiter had two red stripes on the inside of his left sleeve, indicating that he was an FBI agent.
"The fireworks show will start soon" means that the planned start time remains unchanged, and the first firework will still serve as the signal.
The reason for deliberately spilling the wine on Mingmei's clothes was that someone was waiting for her in the bathroom to tell her what to do next.
As for why they don't use cell phones, it's naturally to prevent leaks of confidential information and to prepare for the worst.
Even if they can't be rescued this time, at least the two sisters will be safe and sound.
Bourbon waited at the bathroom door, curious about just how far Akai intended to go.
Through his earpiece, Jingguang told him that Akai might shoot and warned him to be careful.
Bourbon didn't think much of it; he was only worried about Akemi.
With her carefully prepared plan disrupted like this, can she and her sister escape safely without any preparation?
At that moment, Akemi came out.
She draped her coat over her forearms, which looked a bit bulging, presumably because she had stuffed knee pads or something similar into her pockets.
Bourbon gave her a concerned look, to which Akemi responded with a determined gaze, as if to say, "I can do it!"
Bourbon calmly accompanied Akemi back to the bar.
An old man was sitting next to Shirley. When he saw Akemi, he greeted her warmly: "Akemi, it's been a long time!"
Akemi looked completely bewildered; she had no recollection of ever meeting the other person before.
“I am Piske, a friend of your parents,” the old man said.
This surprised Bourbon, as he had never met Pisker before.
"He seems to be a very senior figure. Could he know that secret that everyone in the organization keeps to themselves?"
Pisco exchanged a few pleasantries and then left.
Sherry raised her glass and said, "Sister, Blood Type Mary tastes really good! You should try some too."
Just as Akemi picked up her wine glass, a firework burst into bloom in the night sky with a "bang".
But the loud noise didn't just come from the fireworks; two gunshots rang out one after the other!
One shot that came in through the window undoubtedly came from Akai, but the other one actually came from Sherry?!
That's not all. What shocked Bourbon even more was that Akai hit Sherry, and Sherry hit Akemi?!
Why did you shoot Mingmei?
Boren didn't have time to think about this problem.
Just as he was about to go forward to check on their injuries, Mingmei splashed the Bloody Mary, which she hadn't drunk a drop of, all over his face and ran away.
Bourbon dodged slightly but not completely, and bright red liquid streamed down his face, making it seem as if he were the one who was seriously injured.
"Hey! Are you alright? Hang in there!"
Bourbon wiped his face and naturally turned to Sherry.
This was both to allow Mingmei to get away with it and to confirm his conjecture.
Just as he expected, "Shirley" tore off her mask, revealing the blonde woman's true face.
"I've never even met Shirley, how could she have fooled me so easily!"
"So where is the real Sherry?"
"Have they already gone back, or did they never even come at all?!"
"What grudge does Vermouth have against Akemi?!"
"Vermouth, what are you doing here?" Bourbon asked as he pulled off his tie to stop the bleeding from the other man's arm.
But the woman didn't seem to be in the mood to answer.
Gunshots rang out incessantly as a chaotic battle broke out between the two sides.
Bourbon looked up and despairingly found Akemi lying on the ground.
Blood slowly flowed out…
"Who did this?!"
Bourbon got up to check, but a soccer ball flew out and grazed his temple.
Why is there a football here?
Immediately afterwards, the smoke alarm went off, and water poured down from the ceiling.
"What's going on?"
Having gotten this far, Bourbon, soaked to the bone, had completely lost control of the situation. Hikaru, through his earpiece, apologized, saying he didn't know why Conan was there and why the police hadn't been able to stop him…
Bourbon couldn't care less about anything else right now; his only concern was whether Mingmei was alright.
But as soon as Bourbon approached Akemi, something flew straight at him from outside the bar door, and bullets were whizzing in from outside the window.
"Damn it! What on earth is Akai trying to do?!"
"Could he have kept some underhanded trick from me?"
"It's impossible that he really killed Mingmei?"
Just then, a male voice came through the loudspeaker outside the door: "Listen up, everyone inside! We are the Public Security Mobile Search Team. Put down your weapons immediately and do not put up any futile resistance. I repeat, put down your weapons immediately!"
"Police mobile search team? How come I didn't know they were here?"
The police chief was completely bewildered, and in the midst of the billowing smoke, he vaguely caught a glimpse of a small figure.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"And in this situation, wouldn't it be better to say it's a special assault force from the garrison command?"
"Bourbon, let's go! Forget about that woman!" Vermouth urged in a low voice. "Gin failed, let's get out of here!"
Bourbon had no reason to refuse, and he fired a few shots haphazardly outside to cover Vermouth as she rushed out.
Bourbon glanced back:
Thick smoke billowed, obscuring Mingmei's body from view.
"The rest is up to you."
"Assistant"
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